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Arts Projects in jeopardy

by Carol Byrne THE future of nine arts projects in Clare, worth €343,500, are in limbo after Irish Water indicated it is going to discontinue the Per Cent for Art Scheme. Clare County Council applied for grants following the construction of nine water schemes in the county. Three applications for arts funding of €51,000 were sought in relation to the construction of the Newmarket-on-Fergus Water, Ennis Water Treatment Plant and West Clare Contract Six Water Schemes. A further three applications for €38,000 in arts funding were made following the development of the Ennis Augmentation Water Scheme, Corofin Sewerage Scheme and Lisdoonvarna Water Supply Scheme extension to Ballyvaughan. Two applications for funding of €25,500 were sought under the Per Cent for Art Scheme following the construction of the Tulla Serviced Land Initiative (SLI) and the Clonlara SLI Sewerage Scheme, while one application for funding of €25,000 was made in respect of works at the Clarecastle SLI. The information emerged in a …

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Live Register showing signs of improvement

By Owen Ryan THERE were fewer people on the live register in Clare last month than was the case in any month of March since 2008. Figures from the Central Statistics Office showed that last month there were 9,023 people signing on in the Banner county, down from 9,242 in February. That drop of 239 equates to a drop of 2.5% in a single month, and, when compared to the figure of 9,869 in March of last year, the decline in the number signing on is slightly over 8.5% in one year. Comparing the figures for the month of March over the last number of years is quite telling. In March 2007, with the country still in rude economic health, there were just 4,102 people on the live register. Twelve months later, the number was almost 25% higher at 5,126. Over the next year, the economy would decline dramatically and, in March of 2009, the number on the live register …

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Anger at claim Kilkee business is unaffected

KILKEE businessman Johnny Redmond has reacted angrily to Councillor Gabriel Keating’s suggestion that business in the town remains unaffected by the yet to be repaired damage to the seawall and parts of the Strand Line. Kilkee was extensively damaged during Storm Darwin last February. The road in front of his business is remains impassable. “The Strand Bistro and Restaurant is currently located at what I would call Ground Zero. Left and right of me the roads are completely closed. I have absolutely no passing trade or won’t have passing trade for the whole summer,” Johnny Redmond said on Wednesday. However Councillor Keating said that he feels the damage in Kilkee is not affecting business. “It’s not going to affect the business of Kilkee in my book or the people of Kilkee,” he maintained. “Gabriel Keating has some cheek to say that it’s not going to affect business in the town. How would he know about the impact of this on …

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Lord Inchiquin bemoans lack of funding for Boru celebrations

By Dan Danaher and Carol Byrne LORD Inchiquin, Conor O’Brien, is up in arms over the lack of Government funding and planning for the Brian Boru Millennium celebrations. In an exclusive interview with The Clare Champion, the head of the O’Brien clan, who is the 32nd indirect descent to Brian Ború, issued stinging criticism against Ministers Leo Vradkar and Jimmy Deenihan, claiming the national launch in Trinity College in January came “18 months too late”. During his last meeting with Arts Minister Jimmy Deenihan, the 18th Baron of Inchiquin proposed the Government allocate €150,000 to organise celebrations in Killaloe, Clontarf and Cashel, which could have generated €600,000 for the country if Armagh agreed to contribute a similar amount. However, this proposal wasn’t taken up and instead county groups only received a relatively small amount of funding. Accusing the Government of adopting a very “short-sighted” approach, he recalled last January he was advised by Tourism Minsiter Leo Varadkar that groups could apply …

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Carcasses may have to be burned

SUCH is the difficulty in accessing the location where 17 horses, cattle and calves were found dumped at Baltard Cliffs in Doonbeg last week, the animals may have to be burned. Kilrush Gardai are still investigating the discovery of the dead animals, news of which was broken in last week’s Clare Champion. “Enquiries are ongoing in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture, Clare County Council, The Irish Horse Welfare Trust and the ISPCA. Door to door enquiries have also been carried out,” Kilrush Gardai said on Wednesday, adding that they would welcome any further information from members of the public. Meanwhile, Clare ISPCA Officer Frankie Coote described the location of the dead animals as “perilous” adding that it may prove impossible to remove them. He did not discount suggestions that they may have to be burned where they lie. “It would be one of the options open to them I’d say. I personally feel that you couldn’t get a digger, …

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Middle Eastern Promise for Lissycasey company

Spring Water

by Peter O’Connell A potentially lucrative export market to Bahrain, and possibly the greater Middle East, has opened up for organic water company Clare Spring in Lissycasey, which may lead to the company having to increase its current workforce of 15 full and part-time staff. Clare Spring has been approached by a fledging Bahrain-based firm, Bahsham, whose directors include Kilkee man Tom Byrne and Bahraini national Adel Al Sammak Bahraini, both of whom visited the plant on Monday. “The two of us set up the business with two other partners. Our idea is to import foodstuffs from Europe because organic goes down well in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. We’d be hoping to order one 40-foot container per month. There are 26 pallets per container and each pallet weighs one tonne. We’ll be doing a mixture of glass bottles for hotels and plastic bottles for the shops. We’re also going to supply dispensers. Most of the houses over there have dispensers …

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Ennis legal costs “significant cause for concern”

LEGAL costs which could be more than €500,000 for Ennis Town Council’s defence of two High Court challenges to national legislation are “significant cause for concern” for the local authority. In 2013 Ennis Town Council were involved in two separate cases as a defendant. One case related to the Ennis Casual Trading Bylaws 2011, representing a challenge to the Casual Trading Act 1995 and in particular the status of casual trading on market rights. The council incurred legal costs of €147,000 in relation to this matter. Currently, the council is involved in a separate High Court case regarding the deregulation of the taxi regime. A number of sample cases are being heard in relation to this, including one involving Ennis. The legal costs relating to this are estimated to be in the region of between €300,000 and €450,000. Concern about the cost of the legal battles in defending national legislation to the local authority was outlined at this week’s meeting …

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McNamara quizzes US whistleblower Snowden

By Owen Ryan CLARE TD Michael McNamara chaired a hearing of the Legal Affairs and Human Rights Assembly of the Council of Europe this week, which was addressed by US whistleblower Edward Snowden, who addressed the Strasbourg hearing by video link from Russia. The 30-year-old former US Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency contractor leaked thousands of documents revealing the extent of surveillance being carried out by US authorities. Now wanted in the US, he is in exile in Moscow. Mr McNamara said that what some of what Snowden told the hearing about spying on people involved in the protection of human rights. “He said the US Government had spied on human rights workers, had specifically targeted bodies like the International Human Rights Watch, the National Security Agency (NCA) had specifically targeted leaders and staff members in a number of NGOs, including some in the United States,” Mr McNamara explained. Mr Snowden addressed the hearing on the same day …

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